


Welcome to the West

by mythicait



Series: Niloy Oneshots [5]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Love Confessions, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Sex Pollen, Smut, machines fuck up the environment again, mildly dubcon BECAUSE it's sex pollen lol y'all know the trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28242267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicait/pseuds/mythicait
Summary: Aloy makes her way out of the desert and into the jungle of the Forbidden West - only to find herself overtaken by a heat unlike anything she's ever felt. When Nil finds her, suffering from the same odd fever, what happens next is something neither of them have any control over. Even if it does bring to the surface the feelings they've both been hiding.
Relationships: Aloy/Nil (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Series: Niloy Oneshots [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1506413
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Welcome to the West

**Author's Note:**

> Just some shameless smut and fluff with the very classic sex pollen trope (thank you Star Trek fandom, we owe everything to you lmao). This is post-canon when Aloy heads west but otherwise that's pretty much all you need to know! As always - don't like, don't read. Enjoy the smut!

_ The sweltering heat of this jungle is even worse than the Jewel, _ Aloy thought as she made her way deeper into the new territory. She’d thought that when she left the desert behind, she was abandoning the dire heat with it, but that was not the case. 

Whatever had been here before Gaia’s reclamation of the land, the mass of trees and pure heat it was now started to exhaust Aloy more than anything else had. 

Her breath coming harder, she had the fleeting thought to find a stream and cool off for a bit before pushing on. The heat only seemed to get worse as she walked further west but all she could do was push through to the other side. The machines that she was chasing had left a clear enough path, so when she opened up her Focus to try to find some source of water, she felt no small relief when she saw a waterfall close by. 

As she made her way there, the heat spiraled through her, catching in certain areas that caused Aloy’s normally confident stride to stutter. Drawing an uneven breath, she braced her hands on her knees as she paused. Normally, her face burned with the heat, her pale skin sweating and exhaustion overcoming her faster. But this- now, the heat gathered low in her belly. Sweat did slick her skin but she wasn’t tired at all. Restless, burning energy flowed through her and the ridiculous urge to shuck her clothes rose in the back of her mind. 

When she squeezed her eyes closed in an attempt to fend off whatever was happening to her, she saw a flash of grey eyes and bare skin bronzed by the sun. Heat spiked south and a desperate cry left Aloy’s lips. 

She had no idea why she was feeling this now, whether it was some illness or fever bringing it on, but the liquid heat pooling inside her made her think of Nil. 

But thinking about her old hunting partner - the expanse of toned and taut skin he exposed to sun and Goddess all and the crooked grin he flashed her whenever she said something that amused him - only made the infernal heat worse. Shoving thoughts of him away, Aloy straightened abruptly. Fighting the dizziness that threatened to take her back down, she strode blindly towards the waterfall she could just now begin to hear. 

When she reached it, she practically fell to her knees beside the pool at its base. Without even checking to see if it was safe, she cupped the blessedly cool water in her hands and splashed it over her face. 

The sweet relief only lasted a second, the heat returning to color her cheeks with what was undoubtedly a deep red. Groaning, Aloy rose to begin stripping off her weapons and gear. She had enough presence of mind to switch on her Focus and look for machines, but when she saw nothing, she turned it off and concentrated on undoing her clasps with increasingly shaky fingers. 

With the first brush of her fingers against the bare skin of her stomach, Aloy had to bite back a groan. This fever, or whatever it was, had made her so sensitive that the mere touch had almost brought her back down to her knees. Curious and almost unable to stop herself, Aloy trailed her fingertips up the skin of her stomach and over her breast band, the last barrier left on her upper half. 

Her gasp rang out in the little clearing as her head tilted back at the utterly arousing feeling. Her nipples pearled against the rough fabric of the band, the chafing material only stimulating her more. From the few times Aloy had dared to explore her own body, she knew- as soon as she turned her attention there, she could feel how wet she’d already gotten. 

Somehow she knew her hands weren’t big enough, wouldn’t give her the kind of release she needed, but they traced down her stomach anyway. Before she could stop herself, one slipped under her waistband, seeking out the wet heat she knew she would find. Aloy clapped her other hand over her mouth to muffle the absolutely wanton groan that left her when her fingers brushed over her core. Her curls were already damp, soaked by the pure heat that dripped from her as another image of the man she’d come to know well flashed before her eyes. 

Nil on his knees before her, the large warrior grinning up at her with that stupid headdress still covering his head. His hands slipped up her thighs, his smile a dirty promise of the pleasure he was so close to bringing her...

Pressing her thighs together, she tried to relieve the pressure building in her core even as she tore her hand from between them. “The water,” she mumbled in a haze, “I need to get in the water.” Whatever was happening to her, the cold pool would help clear her head. But as she tucked her thumbs into the waistband of her pants, she heard a rustling behind her. 

Over the noise of the waterfall rushing before her, she’d missed the sound of someone sneaking up from the way she’d entered. 

Fumbling for her bow, Aloy managed to nock an arrow before twisting around to find-

Nil.

The tip of her arrow sagged, the bow too heavy for her weak arms to hold up when she knew that she was in no danger. Not from this man. And especially not with how he looked. A red blush burned in his cheeks to match her own, his breathing heavy as he just stood there, watching her with those luminous eyes. 

Eyes that slid down the length of her body.

Aloy could almost feel the touch of them, lingering on the slash of her collarbones, the hard imprint of her nipples on her breast band, all the way down to where she knew she had soaked through the seam of her leggings. Instinctually, she felt her back arch, body swaying towards him even though he stood a handful of paces away. 

_ Was he even real? _ she wondered, _ or did I summon a vision of him?  _ Whatever the answer, a rush of heat pulsed through her in response to his gaze. Her sharp cry caused his eyes to dart back up to her face and Nil strode towards her. It was only her familiarity with him that allowed her to see just how unsteady he was as well. 

Dropping her bow to the ground with more carelessness than she usually showed, Aloy shut her eyes in a bid for control that only left her more unbalanced. 

“Nil,” she gasped out, “what are you doing here?”

“I came for you, of course, Aloy,” came the response, in that deep, playful voice of his that she’d grown to be fond of. Now, it seemed to call to the heat inside her, warmth gushing through her core at the delicious sound of her name on his lips. “Danger lurks in the West and there’s no place I’d rather be than rushing into it with y-you.” 

He stumbled over his last word, finally coming within touching distance of her, something she could  _ feel  _ even if she couldn’t see. It took a monumental effort for her not to reach out and close that distance, the feeling of his skin on hers the only thing her body was screaming would help her. If she opened her eyes, if she looked at him, she would be lost. 

“Can you feel this?” she asked. Her voice was strained, vulnerability she hated but couldn’t fight now on display for him to see. “This fever? I’ve had it since- since I entered the jungle h-here.”

“Me, too,” he murmured softly. 

She heard the rustle of his armor and peeked to find him crouching before her. Far too close to the vision she’d had earlier, of his mouth between her legs as he looked up at her like he was now- Aloy stumbled back, her footing slipping until his hand snapped out to catch her around the waist. 

His touch burned, in the best way Aloy had ever felt. Blindly, she reached for more, needing to quench the heat that only seemed to be soothed by the answering feel of his skin. As if he felt the same, Nil hauled her close to him and suddenly she could feel every inch of him pressed against her. Hands wrapped up in the halves of his vest, tight enough to hurt, Aloy looked up at him helplessly. 

A touch of confusion darkened his beautiful eyes, but more than that the only thing she saw was raw  _ need.  _

Her lips were on his before the urge even fully registered. Aloy surged up against him, claiming his mouth with hers in a kiss that stole the very breath from her lungs. 

Nil’s guttural moan echoed her own, his hands tightening on her waist in blissful passion as he responded in kind. Inexperience did nothing to halt Aloy’s movements, instinct and need letting her follow his lead as he guided her with expert touches. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her as his tongue traced the swell of her bottom lip, opening to him without reservation. Ever the cunning fighter, he took full advantage, plundering her mouth as she tried her best to keep up to the skillful twist of his tongue. 

As he kissed her, Nil’s hands swept over her body. One moved to cradle her neck, fingers threading through her fiery hair. He tilted her head, towering over her as he dragged gasp after gasp from her throat. Distantly, she felt the other slip over the bared skin of her waist. It was nothing he hadn’t seen before, but also nothing he had ever touched.

Just as she had been bold in their kiss, he pressed forward with the same abandon. That hand slid down, over the fabric of her leggings to cup her ass so he could knead his fingers into the muscle there. She broke their kiss as Nil hauled her against him, her head falling back at the feeling of his hard length pressing against her hip. No sound left her as she struggled for breath, the sensation unlike anything she’d ever experienced. 

Nil didn’t pause in his attentions, lips slipping from hers to press hot, open-mouthed kisses across her jaw, down along the column of her neck. He nipped at her throat teasingly, the press of his teeth and tongue dragging another sharp cry from her. 

All rational thought had long ago fled, Aloy no longer capable of thinking about anything but him. More of his touch, his kisses, that desperate rock of his hips against hers that she couldn’t help but return. Whatever this fever had done, it had latched onto the embers of the attraction she had felt for him for longer than she wanted to admit and it had inflamed them until she was helpless to resist.

The man holding her seemed just as wrecked as she was. Breath he’d never lost as they stalked their enemies now came short and ragged. The press of his lips were as messy as they were hot, the urgency only pushing them to arch against each other more. And his hips- oh goddess, the way he was pushing into her made her want to strip him with her teeth and impale herself on him and do it  _ now.  _

All at once, Nil ripped his hands off of her, stumbling back a step until they no longer touched anywhere they had just been melded together. 

Everything in her cried out at the loss of his body on hers and Aloy reached towards him blindly, only for him to shift out of reach. 

“Something is wrong,” he rasped. “This isn’t right.” 

A little alarm in the back of her head rang, chiming in that he was right, but a much larger part of her drowned it out. All of her years alone, those explorations in the deep of night, the longing she’d felt every time she walked away from him, it all combined to cause a bone-deep need inside her that she couldn’t resist anymore. 

“I don’t care,” she breathed. “I need you.” 

Her words broke him. Aloy saw the devastation they wreaked on his control, saw him shed his own hesitation as he met her halfway. 

This time there was no waiting, only the feel of his hands as he tore at the fastening of her breast band, as he cupped her breasts when it fell to the ground. She arched into his touch, pressing her chest against the heated swipe of his thumbs over her nipples. Impatient, she ripped his vest off his shoulders, the dark chuckle he let out only fueling the rough way she surged up to capture his lips once more. 

He caught her, as she knew he would. One of her legs wrapped around his waist, her core pressing tight to the cock she could feel hard and aching between their layers. Her breasts molded to the swell of his own chest, the friction on their sensitive tips sending lightning bolts of pleasure straight to her core. Her nails dug into Nil’s shoulder as he kissed her senseless, her other hand tangling in the feathers of his ornate headdress to rip it off and throw it to the ground. 

Nil hissed in a sharp breath and sanity broke through for a second. 

“Did I hurt you?” Aloy’s frantic gaze searched him, only to find a feral grin and a spill of inky black hair falling over his brow. 

His grin turned sultry, calling to the heat in her blood that had her rocking against him again in an instant. “Not enough, little huntress.” 

Before she could process what he meant, his lips were on hers and her mind was once again lost to the haze of lust between them. 

She buried her hand in his hair, those silky strands falling long and soft through her fingers as she gripped them hard enough to earn another hiss. Nil slipped a hand behind her thigh, pulling her other leg up until they were both wrapped around his waist. His large hands tightened on her thighs, fingers digging in as he carried her several steps away. 

Aloy didn’t know where he was taking them but she also didn’t particularly care, not until he pulled back from her again. The whine that left her was involuntary and she might be ashamed of it later, but for now the only thing she knew was that he wasn’t touching her like she needed. He’d sat her on a large boulder by the base of the waterfall, not flat enough for her to sit comfortably, but slanted so that she could balance on it as he knelt down before her to tear at the laces of her boots. 

She would have helped, but she could barely concentrate as it was, unable to help the hand that slipped down into her leggings as she watched him. The knit of his brow as he worked and the nimble fingers turned clumsy with lust only served to make her own fingers work faster, rough on the little bud of pleasure that made her gasp with every pass. When he finally had her boots off and looked up, only to find her breasts heaving with the breaths she struggled to draw in as her hand worked between her legs, his gaze darkened. 

With a growl, he slipped his fingers beneath the edge of her leggings. Lifting her hips eagerly, Aloy let him slip both them and her smalls off together. The rock beneath her was rough but not enough to bother her as she reclined bare in front him, hand leaving her slit to help her balance. None of the embarrassment she should have felt was there, only the need that she eagerly gave into, legs spreading slightly as he sat back on his heels and just watched. 

Time stood still for the moments it took for Nil’s eyes to draw slowly down the length of her. He stared like she was… a goddess. Silver eyes devoured every inch of her and the fire that had been building inside her took a moment’s break as a tiny piece of her wondered at the look in his eyes. 

When his gaze met hers, the peace shattered. 

She reached out, hands tugging on his shoulders. Aloy needed him up, on top of her, inside of her. Aching emptiness demanded that she be filled, even as her mind struggled to tell her that she hadn’t ever even felt that before. When Nil didn’t obey her silent command, she was the one who snarled at him. 

Even now, he had the audacity to wink at her and Aloy almost screamed her frustration. The only thing that stopped her was Nil hitching her legs over his shoulders as his focus dropped to her wet pussy. Anticipation ratcheted her heartbeat up a pace as she realized what he intended a second before his mouth descended on her soaked slit. The cry that left her throat was strangled and raw, the touch of his lips on her clit enough to make her entire body tremble. At the first stroke of his tongue, she collapsed back against the solid rock beneath her. 

No one had ever touched her intimately before - Aloy had never so much as been kissed before the last few minutes. The feeling of her fingers was nothing compared to the skill of his lips and tongue on her and she drowned in sharp edged pleasure as he lavished her with attention. Her hands fell to him, one buried in his hair, pushing him closer even as her hips lifted to meet his mouth. 

Her undulations almost toppled her over, but Nil was there to catch her. Strong, warm hands covered her hips and kept her steady, the solidity of him grounding even as she felt herself fly quick and hard towards her peak. He must have known, his lips closing around her clit as he sucked, the sensation sending her crashing into her climax with a scream. And still he didn’t let up.

Softer, sweeter strokes prolonged the pulsing waves of her orgasm but it wasn’t long before the ache began to grow again. Aloy almost sobbed out a cry, hands clutching at his shoulders. “Nil, please, I need you inside me. It’s n-not going away-”

He rose, crowding her against the rock. Instead of feeling caged, she felt safe, secure in the knowledge that he would take care of her. Wrapping her legs around his thick waist, Aloy’s hands dropped to the ties of his pants. They were intricate, so much that Aloy cursed the Carja as she went. 

Nil’s breaths mingled with hers, their foreheads pressed together as she struggled. Nor did he make it easier on her, fingers slipping between her legs to play with the slick mess of her climax. Her hands spasmed as he thrust a finger into her, further delaying her goal even as it helped to soothe the ragged edge of her desire. She knew he was losing that perfect grip on his control as he pumped it into her, hard and fast. A second soon joined it and she gave herself into his rhythm. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured against her hair. She felt him press a kiss to her temple, unsure why he would be apologizing until he spoke again. “I have to get you ready, but I’ll take care of you.”

Her heart swelled. His mouth, his fingers, all preparation for what was yet to come. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it, a distant part of her recalled as the memory of those glinting silver eyes made her cunt clench around his fingers. Nil let out a deep groan before slipping out of her to fumble at his belt. Unlike when she had tried, it came off quickly, though he only tugged his pants down far enough to pull his cock out. 

Unable to stop herself, Aloy let out a little mewl of pure want. He was thick and hard, the length of him intimidating even as it sent a thrill through her. Before conscious thought, she reached out, her fingertips smoothing over the leaking tip - and Nil let out a rough cry. Before she could ask him if he was okay, he grabbed her hand and pulled it away. Threading their fingers together, he took himself in his other hand. 

The first time he slid his cock through her slick cleft, Aloy’s legs convulsed, pulling him closer and almost making him slip inside. Nil cursed, hips grinding against her so that the head of his cock nudged her clit and she cried out. Unable to take any more, she pulled him down for a hard, deep kiss, tasting what must be her own essence on his tongue. 

“I’m okay, Nil, just fuck me already,” she managed to gasp out. 

His laughter sent a pleasant shiver across her skin, the sensation cut short by the abrupt thrust that had him sinking into her. A sharp cry muffled by his lips, his hands soft on her skin as if in apology and atonement for the quick stab of pain that accompanied their joining. Just as quick as it happened, it was gone, making way for the sheer fullness that threatened to overwhelm her. To her surprise, tears gathered in her eyes. 

Thumb swiping across her cheek, Nil kissed her softly. 

His next thrust pushed him all the way in, sheathing himself to the hilt inside her. Out of instinct, Aloy squeezed his cock, dragging a broken cry from his lips. He stayed there, fully inside her, for several long moments.  _ He’s hesitating, _ she realized. Waiting for her. If the heat burning inside him was anything like the one in her, he would be in excruciating pain staying still like this. 

“I said  _ fuck me, _ Nil,” she said in the most commanding voice she could muster. 

Soldier that he was, he gave in. Nil pulled out of her quick, the feeling of his cock dragging along her cunt lighting up her nerves. That control of his snapped and he slammed into her. The cry she let out was half ecstasy and half relief, the harsh tempo he set finally beginning to quench the fire that still burned throughout her skin. The feeling was like nothing Aloy had ever experienced and soon enough her hips were rising to meet his. 

Their movements synchronized as he cleaved into her, breaths shared with messy kisses. Her hands roamed over every inch of him she could reach as his pinched and pulled at her breasts. They rose together, the wake of her last climax building to another as she felt his shaft pulse inside her. When he cried out, sinking deep into her as he spent himself, filling her with warmth, Aloy let herself go too. 

Nil stayed buried inside her as they caught their breaths. Every few seconds, her pussy would spasm with the lingering waves of her climax and she would feel his breath shudder. Her hands combed through his hair, pushing it back out of his face as he pressed soft kisses to her shoulder. 

“What was that?” he finally asked, voice low and confusion making it sound smaller than usual. 

“I don’t know. But, um, thank you.” Inexplicably, Aloy felt a blush rising to her cheeks, so unlike the one earlier. 

Sensing her discomfort, Nil slipped out of her, though his hands stayed to keep her steady. She almost gasped at the loss, emptiness in both body and heart making her crave his touch just as quick as it was gone. Bewildered, she shut her eyes. Was that the fever or was it her? 

Whatever it was, she didn’t want him to leave. 

Reaching out, she caught the edge of his belt before he could retreat more. “Why did you-” she struggled to find the words, “ah, _ help _ me?”

Warm fingers hooked under her chin, tilting her face up. Silence rang through the clearing, the roar of the waterfall the only sound until she opened her eyes. A tender smile curled Nil’s kiss-swollen lips, one she’d never seen on him before. Her heart skipped a beat at the warmth in his eyes.

“I’ll admit, it’s not the way I  _ wanted  _ to bed you for the first time, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.” Aloy’s eyes widened at the confession but he pressed on. “My concern is more for you. Are you… alright?”

His hand fell lightly to her thigh, thumb brushing against the curls between her legs and she caught his meaning. Lowering her gaze, Aloy took stock of herself. Messy and satisfied, with that lingering heat and emptiness that pulled at her. Shaking her head, she said, “I’m fine. Though I would appreciate not sitting on this rock anymore.” 

He grinned at her. “May I?”

She looked at his outstretched hand and placed hers in his without hesitation. Instead of pulling her up as she expected, he looped her arm around his neck and bent to pull her up into his arms. Aloy let out a little squeak of surprise, clinging to his shoulders as he carried her to the edge of the pool. 

Carefully, he set her down so her bare feet landed on her discarded shirt. Slow enough that she knew he was giving her time to push him away, his hands swept down her back. Little shards of gravel fell under his touch, soft and smooth enough that it didn’t even sting. When his thumbs pressed into the dimple in the small of her back, Aloy couldn’t help but lean into him. 

She wasn’t sure what had caused this, but she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed it. And she couldn’t deny the deeper feelings for him that had only grown stronger in the last few minutes. 

“Nil-” she said softly, turning to look at him over her shoulder. Before she could say anything, a spike of heat rushed through her, horrifying in its familiarity. Wide eyes met her own and she whispered, “It’s happening again.” 

A look of matching conflict lit his eyes and Aloy swallowed. The shiver that wracked her body pulled her gaze from his and back to the waterfall, hands curling into fists in an attempt to keep whatever this was at bay. His hands tightened on her waist and she gasped, the casual touch doing nothing to mitigate the wave of need once again swamping her. 

She felt him move, his forehead falling against the back of her head as he muttered, “Aloy, we need to- Is it alright if we… use each other again?” 

Miserable conflict filled his voice and Aloy wished this fever had waited a few more seconds so she could have told him that she’d do  _ this  _ again, of her own volition, anytime he wanted to. Instead, she nodded, hoping they could have a respite to talk after- after she had him inside her again,  _ oh goddess it burns.  _

As soon as she acquiesced, those strong hands pulled her hips back against him. Nil’s hard cock pressed against her ass and her head tipped back against his shoulder as he ground against her. Newly intimate to sex she might be, but Aloy knew it took longer than a handful of minutes for men to recover so this must be another side effect of whatever had them in its grasp. 

All thoughts of fever and symptoms fled when his hand slipped between her legs. Calloused fingers, rough and gentle and expertly torturous, pulled her quickly along that wire of tension. This time, the pleasure edged on pain, the sensitivity of her bud making his attention so exquisitely intense. On a particularly hard press, Aloy gasped, her hand flying up behind her to cling to the back of his neck as she held on for fear of falling. 

Nil bent to press his lips to her shoulder. “The water might cool this heat, huntress.”

Cool air brushed across her skin as he spoke, pulling another tremble from her. A few moments ago, Aloy would have sworn she couldn’t have been more sated but now she needed him again in the worst way. Craning her neck, she met his lips, kissing him fiercely. Following the sensual example he’d set earlier, her tongue darted out to swipe over his lip before she took it between her teeth and bit down, pulling a moan from both of them. 

“I don’t think I can wait that long,” she breathed, uncaring of the desperate way her voice broke. Turning in his arms, she pressed herself against him.

Hands catching on her waist, Nil stroked his thumbs over her stomach as he hummed against her mouth. “It’s a good thing you have me.”

The devious smile registered for only a second before Aloy found herself crashing against the surface of the pool. Cool water rushed around her, both a blessing and a curse. Pushing up to the top, she let out a little shriek as she pushed her soaked hair out of her face. 

“Nil, you motherless chuff- I’ll kill-” She spat out the mouthful of water that ran down her face. As soon as she swiped the liquid from her face, she looked up to find him laughing loud and free. Whatever threat she’d been about to make stalled on her tongue as she caught that look of joy. 

Aloy had never seen him laugh like that. Smile and tease and goad her, yes, but never had she heard a sound like that pass his lips. Inexplicably, she felt a smile start to tug at her lips. When he caught his breath and looked up to her, he froze at the look. For a second, she thought Nil might flee, but when his gaze softened and shared that quiet space for a moment, her heart soared. 

Then his gaze slipped south, lingering on the drops of water streaking down her chest as she found her footing in slightly shallow water. Returning with a vengeance, the ache in her core pulsed at the look, even more when his hands slid down his stomach to where his pants hung loose on his hips. Nil kept his eyes on her as he divested himself of his armor, then of the purple silk, every moment dragging on in pained silence. Not that he wasted any time - though it felt like forever, his deft fingers worked fast and soon enough he was bare before her too. 

Her hand had long ago slipped between her legs, the water helping soothe the chafing as she stroked herself back to the inferno she had felt like in his arms. At his heated look, she said, “I don’t think it worked. The water.” 

How he managed to look graceful as he slid into the water, she would never know, but all that mattered was that he was pulling her against him. Hot against her stomach, she felt his thick cock twitch between them as she trailed wet fingers up the expanse of his warm chest before resting her hands on either side of his neck. Aloy took no shame in the way her legs wrapped around his waist, nor the way her lips met his in ferocious demand. The play of silky heat and liquid coolness only served to drive her higher. 

Twisting his hips against hers, Nil rubbed his cock against her folds and Aloy gasped. “I think I can help, then,” he murmured, voice low and seductive.

She nodded frantically, hands scrambling at his shoulders as he lifted her hips. With all the haste he’d fought back the first time, Nil impaled her fast and hard on his cock, forcing a strangled scream from her throat. He didn’t give her any time to recover, guiding her into a punishing pace that had her arching against him frantically. Another cry threatened to escape and Aloy bit down on his shoulder, stifling her noises with the taste of him. 

Nil let out a groan of his own as she used his momentum and the flow of the water to slam down onto him. If she was anything close to sane, Aloy would have crowed over the way he shivered at her rough thrusts. As it was, all she could think of was the way he throbbed inside her, the feeling of his hot cock filling her again and again. 

When the rush of the water and the rushing in her ears stopped drowning her in the sound of her own heartbeat, she heard his voice. 

“Sun and shadow, huntress, you’re so perfect,” Nil whispered, broken and still somehow capable of the speech that eluded her entirely. “I’ve d-dreamed of this. Of you, hot and willing and so beautiful beneath me.” 

An image of him, stroking himself to completion with her as the object of his desire, invaded her mind and her teeth dug into his skin a little harder. Nil cried out, whether in pain or pleasure she couldn’t tell, but his cock twitched inside her and she knew he was close. She made her jaw unclench, releasing her hold on him only to lick the imprint of her teeth on his skin. Absurdly, a feeling of pride - of lust, of claiming, of  _ belonging  _ \- rose up in her at the sight of the mark she had left on him. Her hands found his thick waist, clinging to him as she brought her hips down hard on his. 

“Aloy, please, I’m close. Do you want-”

“Shut up, Nil,” she groaned. She reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair, tugging it loose from the messy tie holding it up. When it was free, she pulled, wrenching his head back and a cry from his lips as hers traced the line of his throat. “I want you to fill me, to make this damned heat go away.” 

When her teeth found their next home in his throat, Nil cursed weakly, a contrast to the hard pull of his hands as he sank fully into her. The new, telltale feeling of his warmth spreading inside her triggered Aloy’s own release. She squeezed him hard, the strength in her limbs fleeing as her head fell to his chest. Still she kept moving, the draining fire in her veins dragging every speck of pleasure she could from both of their sensitive bodies. 

Nil was the one who stopped her, pulling her close so he was seated inside her and the grip he had on her hips couldn’t be swayed. Unaware of when they had drifted close to the edge, Aloy blinked in surprise as Nil sank down to sit on one of the rocks along the rim. 

Hands that had just been biting into her skin soothed over her back once more. Aloy let her eyes flutter close at the soft touch, relaxing into his embrace and curling close to his chest. 

It was only because she was close that she could feel the tension still thrumming in him. Only this time she didn’t think Nil had sex on his mind. 

“Aloy…” 

Despite the strained, almost pleading, way he spoke, she sighed softly. “I love the way you say my name,” she murmured. 

His hand froze on her back. “Oh?” His voice bordered on breathless and she pulled back to look at him, only to find a slightly lost look on his face. 

“What is it?” she asked, brows tightening with concern. 

“Anger can hide beneath the calmest surfaces, I know,” he said lightly, though his tone didn’t hold the same amusement it normally did. Eyes darkened to a stormy grey searched hers. “This isn’t exactly normal, huntress. It would be alright if you were angry at me.” 

Confusion muddled her brain, combining with the reminder that he was still inside her as she shifted to slow her thinking. “Why would I be angry with you?” 

Sighing, Nil lifted her off of him. Aloy protested the loss, a little whimper leaving her even as he settled her back down on his lap. This kind of closeness was wholly new to her but Aloy was already soaking in the intimacy of his nearness and she refused to move further away, slinging her arms around his waist. Hesitant hands fell to her shoulders. 

“I may not know what is going on with this-” he gestured between them, what little space there was, “-but taking advantage of it, taking advantage of  _ you, _ is inexcusable.”

His grave tone finally broke through the last lingering feeling of bliss. Aloy blinked up at him. “Nil, we’re both feeling this- this whatever it is. If anything, we’re taking advantage of each other.” 

“It’s not the same. Not with the way that I-” he bit off his reply, the heated words dying on his tongue. 

“The way that you what?” she asked quietly, her heart starting to pick up.

His eyes darted away, finding anything to look at beside her. Unwilling to let him get away with that, Aloy braced her knees beside his hips, rising to crowd close to him. Close enough that he couldn’t help but look at her, the hands on his cheeks only aiding her goal. Wide grey eyes returned to her as her gaze caressed his face in a way she’d never let herself do before; the slash of his brows, cheeks flushed red from embarrassment and the way he’d drove into her before, lips swollen and pink from her kisses. 

As much as she wanted him to talk, she couldn’t help herself. With only a slight move, she could taste him again. Sweat and water, the lingering trace of her most intimate place on that soft mouth. Aloy hummed against him as she kissed him chastely, just the press of her lips on his. Another time when she started to retreat and couldn’t bring herself not to. 

When she pulled back, he was looking at her in wonder. She felt a blush start to build, the casual nature of her kiss now making her realize that he’d done nothing to encourage it. 

Unwilling to back down, even now, she asked defiantly, “The way you what?”

“The way that I feel about you. Our footing is unequal and I used it to my advantage.” Shame darkened his face. “When I came to find you, I only wanted to offer my services as blade and bow in your hands. Not...this.” He swallowed hard. “I care about you far too much to treat you like a common sheath for my sword.” 

Realization hit Aloy like an enraged charger. Her mouth dropped open but all that came out was a small “Oh.” 

He loved her. That’s what he was saying - wasn’t it? That was what it looked like, as he stared up at her with eyes the color of the stars and his heart shining through. His silence filled the air with enough of a confession that even she could tell. 

Nil was in love with her. 

Had he been anyone else, she would have run. But he was her partner. The man at her back in battle and the one who had noticed that the burdens she carried were close to breaking her. The one whose voice she longed to hear and whose smile made her own bloom. And now, the one who had brought her such utter pleasure even in the throws of this confusion. 

Aloy trusted him with her life. Could she trust him with her heart? 

It was the way he looked right now that answered the question for her. Manipulated by something unknown, lost in the forbidden west and all by herself, Aloy had almost succumbed to whatever this was alone. Instead, she had Nil. Still confused and unsure about what was happening, but with him here she felt safe. He was there and that meant she could go into whatever kind of battle that awaited them with the confidence of his passionate ferocity at her side. And yet he looked ashamed by what they had done. 

Relaxing in his arms, she settled back down onto his lap with deliberate ease. “I didn’t get to tell you what I wanted to earlier, after the first time.” Leaning forward, Aloy brushed her lips over his heart. “I trust you, Nil. You’ve earned that and more from me. You abandoned your rules to come to Meridian - to come fight for me. I was afraid-” her voice cracked. “I was afraid that after I left you on that mesa, you would do something stupid. That because I didn’t kill you, you would…” 

Her throat closed up at the thought she couldn’t even voice. Resting her forehead on him, Aloy squeezed her eyes shut. His silence was deafening. 

“When I saw you by the river in Meridian, I was so happy,” she whispered. “I didn’t even know how to feel about you, but seeing you again made my heart stumble in its tracks. I- I still don’t entirely know what I feel. It’s all so new to me. But,” she drew back to look him in the eye, “you have to know, this isn’t just you. Nil, you and I are never on uneven footing, especially not here. I care about you too.” 

Eyes wide as the moon, Nil simply stared at her for a few endless moments. When Aloy squirmed under his attention, he finally took a breath, coming to life under her gaze once more. “You-”

He cut himself off, hands that had been made of stone for as long as it had taken her to have her revelation now pulling her tight against him. The last of her nerves fled as Aloy melted against his chest, savoring the solid feel of him surrounding her. He buried his face in her hair, one hand sliding up her back to cup her neck and hold her close. 

“I don’t deserve you,” he murmured, so low she could barely catch it even pressed so close. 

The words broke her heart - both for his doubt in himself and the unwelcome reminder of a little girl who had tried for so long to figure out why the Nora didn’t want her. “Who said anything about being deserving?” she said fiercely. “I want you and you want me. It’s that simple, Nil.” 

A surprised laugh answered her declaration. “So determined. I should expect nothing less from the woman who united so many to fell so large a foe as you did.” 

Aloy grumbled at the reminder, fingers pinching at his waist in a retaliation that had more of that pretty laughter falling from his lips. When she moved to do it again, he stopped her, lacing their fingers together and holding tight enough that she couldn’t escape even if she had wanted to. Which she didn’t. He was the one who pulled her in for a kiss, soft and sweet to match the way she had kissed him. 

When he pulled back, it was only to murmur, “We should probably get out, huntress. Your fingers will prune and you’ll be useless with a bow.” 

This time Aloy did get another pinch in before fleeing from his grasp. Her laughter rang through the little hollow as he cut through the water, chasing her until his arm snuck around her waist. Breathless and enjoying his casual touch, Aloy only put up a token struggle as he dragged her close - only to get dunked below the water. 

When she came up sputtering, she shoved him back, knowing she wouldn’t be able to overpower him enough to dump  _ him  _ in the water but needing some kind of retaliation. At her vicious glare, Nil raised his hands in surrender. 

“I yield, huntress. Don’t turn that baleful gaze on me, I beg you,” he teased. 

With a couple more mutters, Aloy turned her mind to revenge and her braids. The soaking had frayed the ends and half of them were already coming undone from their… activities. Sighing, she began to unravel the rest. It had been far too long since she’d had a true bath; traversing the desert between the Sundom and the forbidden west was not a trip that leant itself towards cleanliness. 

Blushing slightly, she remembered that her state hadn’t exactly stopped Nil from ravishing her the first time. Not that he was in any better shape, nor had the fever given them any choice. Peeking through the strands of her hair as they fell loose, Aloy watched as he leaned over the edge of the pool to grab his pack. The carved muscles of his back moved with graceful strength and had her pressing her legs together to stem the newest tide of rising need. 

Turning back with a sliver of soap in his hands, Nil caught her look and a sultry, slightly smug, grin tipped his lips which only made her glare at him again. 

Holding out his other hand, he beckoned her closer. “Come here, wildcat. I’ll clean you off.” 

The prospect of being clean - of those hands sliding over her body - was too tempting, overpowering her false annoyance. Swimming closer, she went into his arms all too willingly. A blissful sigh left her at the first touch of his hands, sweeping suds across the length of her back. Aloy moved when directed, leaning into him as he massaged the places where rock had dug in, where he had gripped so hard as he thrust into her. Each pass called to the heat building inside her once again, only this time she couldn’t tell if it was more the fever or more  _ her. _

When he reached the apex of her thighs, the only place he had yet to clean, she was already trembling. His fingers were ever so gentle, teasing her with a care that neither of them had been capable of until now. The soft stroking over her sensitive slit teased her enough to make her sink further into his arms, but was just shy of pushing her too high. Far too soon, he released her. 

“Go dry off, Aloy. I’ll join you in a moment.” The rough cant to his voice warned her that the temptation to fuck her again was close, just as it was for her. 

Making her way to the edge, Aloy could feel his gaze on her and she wasn’t too proud to move a little more sinuously than she normally would. A quiet groan from behind her was a suitable reward as she rose from the water and leaned over to wring out her hair. 

Sending him a little grin when she found him still stuck watching her, she said, “The faster you finish, the faster you can join me.” 

That got him moving, washing himself quicker than the lazy time he’d spent sliding his hands all over her. Absently, Aloy watched him as she used a spare shirt to soak up most of the water still covering her skin. He was… big. So much taller than her, with thick muscles that corded his body and hands capable of, well, tossing her into a pool. She’d looked at him before, little glances that she couldn’t help when he crouched beside her in the tall grass of the Sundom, but nothing like this. Now, he was entirely bare and practically teasing her with the way his hands slid over his body. 

A pulse throbbed through her core, the fever returning to race through her blood. Sinking down onto the soft grass by the bank, she let it flow without fighting it. Even as her fingers found their way to her pussy and a new wave of slick heat coated them, she could feel that the fever was just a little weaker now. Still strong enough to amplify the feelings she was already in possession of, but not enough to make her fling herself at him as soon as he hoisted himself out of the water. 

A curtain of dark black hair fell around his face as his gaze devoured her and for a second she was distracted by how utterly pretty he was. Aloy never would have suspected such long, gorgeous hair lay underneath that headdress but she would thank the goddess herself for it. 

Nil wasted no time drying off, stalking over to where she sat and falling to his knees between legs that she eagerly spread for him. Threading her fingers through the locks she had just been admiring, Aloy pulled him into a heated kiss. His hands smoothed over her thighs, stroking up her body with aching firmness, urging her to pull him down with her until he lay heavy over her. 

With her thighs cradling his hips, Nil fit perfectly against her. Every inch of them that touched the other burned and Aloy let her own hands wander across the canvas of his body, learning him and reveling in the little chorus of sounds he made when she found a spot he liked. Before long, he was rocking into her, the small movements of his hips against hers making the hot length of his cock grind against her slit. 

Aloy’s vision went hazy as his lips slid from hers, down her throat to brand kisses across her chest. One of his hands closed on her breast as his mouth brushed over the other, the double assault making her back arch so she could get closer to him, to this feeling. Lips closing over her nipple, Nil flicked his tongue over the hard tip and dragged another breathless moan from her. Burying her hands in his hair, she urged him on, tongue and teeth and lips playing over her soft, small breasts like she was a feast spread out just for him. 

One particular pull of his teeth had her crying out. Aloy wasn’t sure if she could come just from this but she was damn close. Before she found out, Nil pulled back, resting his chin between her heaving breasts to look up at her. 

“You were perfection the first time I saw you,” he said reverently. “Bold and confident as you approached the strange man with bodies strewn around him.” He dropped a kiss on her skin, retracing his way up her neck. “I was hard every time you walked away, Aloy,” he whispered in her ear as his hands closed over her hips. “But the sensual dance you follow on the battlefield pales in comparison to you now.” 

With those words still echoing over her skin, Nil pushed into her slowly. Aloy keened, the feeling of his hard cock spearing into her hot cunt one of completion and sheer lust. Helpless against the fire in her belly urging her on, she clutched at his waist and gasped out his name as he began to fuck her. Slow, even strokes, so different from their frantic joinings before. 

“Nil, I-” The words died in her throat at a particular hard thrust that had him hitting a spot inside her that sent a blaze of pleasure through her and then she couldn’t even remember what she was going to say. 

“Sahad,” Nil said roughly, voice strained and so quiet she barely heard him.

“W-what?”

He kissed her hard and fast. “My real name is Sahad.”

A jagged laugh escaped her, even as the confession sparked in her heart. “You chose n-now,  _ oh, _ to tell me?” 

With a weak grin and a shrug, he simply said, “I’m yours.” 

Joy burst through her, heightening the pleasure he dragged out of her with every touch and caress and thrust. She chose that moment to hook her leg over his hip and twist them to press his back into the soft grass. Nil blinked at her in surprise, hands instinctively gripping her hips as she kept him seated inside her. 

The new position dragged a wanton moan from Aloy, his cock hitting deeper inside her aching cunt than he had before. For a moment it was all she could to stay upright, her hands braced on his chest as she sucked in breath after breath. Meeting his hot gaze, she found his jaw clenched and a frantic mix of need and affection simmering in his grey eyes. 

“Fuck, Aloy-” he said before cutting himself off.

Aloy felt his cock pulse and she tightened around him on instinct, the sensation reminding her that she needed to move, to fuck him the way she had wanted to. Carefully, she rose on her knees, felt his cock slip from her inch by inch until only the head was still inside her pussy. Unable to go further, she sank back down, using his cock to fill the emptiness he had left behind. 

“Shadow take me,” Nil ground out, “please, love, just fuck me.” 

It took her a moment to find her balance, but she did. And  _ goddess  _ did it feel perfect. Aloy rode him hard and deep, the motions and muscles she’d cultivated on the backs of chargers lending her the stamina she needed to slam her hips down on his again and again. Her fingernails dug into Nil’s chest as she moved, as he joined her and lifted to meet her every stroke. 

When her thighs began to shake and her hips stuttered, Nil’s hand slid to her stomach, thumb stroking through her curls to find the swollen little nub that had her back bowing in blinding pleasure. With a shattered cry, she came apart around him. A dim part of her was aware of the way he kept going, kept pumping up into her through her climax, but most of her attention was too fractured to do more than writhe on top of him. 

“You’re perfect, Aloy, so tight and beautiful and so fucking perfect,” Nil said, unable to stay quiet as she felt him near his own peak. “I can’t-”

Aloy bent down to capture his lips, then whispered against them, “Let go, Sahad. I’ve got you.” 

With another curse, his hips bucked up into her roughly as he spent himself inside her. Aloy kissed his jaw, over and over, until his body slumped and they both laid still. Looping his arms around her back, Nil’s pulled her close, until she was splayed across him in a lazy, sated heap. The sound of his heart still thundering in his chest under her ear helped steady her as she dragged in deep breaths to calm her own. 

Orange light glinted off the water rushing down the cliff beside them, the sun’s descent setting their little hollow on fire with light. As if to mirror the fading sun, Aloy felt the fever finally begin to wane. Whether it had something to do with the day’s cycle or if they had finally worked all of it out of their system, she didn’t know, but her relief was palpable. 

“Gone for you, too?” Nil asked softly. 

She nodded, making no move to get off of him. Exhaustion pulled at her now, the absence of that burning lust leaving her so tired she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to stand. Nil seemed content to stay as they were as well, his hands lightly stroking her back and playing with her hair. 

Eventually, that cautious piece of her prodded her enough that Aloy let out a disgruntled groan and sat up. Tapping her Focus, she looked around, searching for any sign of danger. When she found none, her eyes narrowed. “Nothing,” she muttered. “Why is there nothing?”

“In the position we’re in, I’d say that’s a good thing, huntress,” Nil drawled from beneath her, rising to prop himself up on his elbows as he watched her. 

It should have felt awkward, the way Aloy casually reached out to him to steady herself. Being so close to another was new for her, but she found herself touching him with a familiarity their past couple hours had fostered. 

“It is,” she said drily, “since both of us were loud enough that we should have drawn any nearby machine’s attention.”

He gave her crooked grin. “Are you complaining?”

Aloy rolled her eyes, not deigning to answer that as she pushed off of him to stand on shaky legs. Sitting up, Nil reached out to steady her and she gratefully accepted his help as her strength returned to her. When she could trust that she wouldn’t fall, she offered him a hand and he stood with her. 

“As much as I’d love to camp here for the night, we need to find the source of whatever that was,” she said quietly. 

They dressed quickly, clothing and armor strapped back on. Though she had done it herself many times before, Nil sidled up next to her to help lace the front of her vest together. The intimacy in his touch soothed an aching part of her heart that she’d learned to ignore so she did the same for him, fastening the straps of his armor over the hard curve of his biceps. With little touches and a familiar rhythm, they set off.

Less than a hundred yards from the waterfall, Aloy’s Focus pinged with an incoming signal. They moved towards it cautiously, and with every step, Aloy was sure the fever would come back. But as they approached the source of the signal, there were no machines, no wildlife, no fever. A little building stood connected to the cliff face, the doors long since gone so they ducked in easily. 

Aloy’s eyes widened at the sight of the new machine, shaped a little like the metal flowers she was used to, but so much bigger. The petal-like sides were closed up and surrounded a core that radiated a green light unlike any machine she had yet seen. She could practically feel Nil’s curiosity as she circled around it, reading the description that popped up on her Focus, but he watched her silently. He didn’t know her history with the machines, but he had seen her dig through enough piles of debris and dead machines to know that she would take her time with this. 

“Oh,” she breathed as she came across the malfunction logged for the machine. “Well, that explains it.” 

“What does?” he asked, pushing off the wall to join her. 

“It was built to keep the machines away. I’m not sure why - there’s nothing in the files that says what it’s protecting, but that’s what it’s supposed to do.”

“Was it what was affecting us?” 

Aloy hummed. “In a way. The signal it's emitting seems to affect some of the nearby wildlife - including a plant that’s now releasing high enough doses of pheromones to affect humans. But it seems to be linked to a cyclical setting,” she mused. “It’s on standby mode right now, which is why we don’t feel like we’re burning anymore.” 

“Can’t say I minded that kind of burning,” Nil said suggestively. 

Tossing him a knowing look, Aloy said, “You minded at the beginning.” 

He sobered, sharp grey eyes searching her face. “I did.”

Aloy didn’t know what he was looking for, what he wanted from her, so with pink cheeks she turned back to the machine. To something she could figure out. 

“There might be something I can do to fix the way it’s affecting that plant…” Looking around, she saw all sorts of tools and supplies stored throughout the large building. “But it might take me awhile.” Stumbling over her words, she looked back to Nil. “Would you, um, would you like to stay with me while I fix it?” 

“In case the urge to fuck someone within an inch of their life starts pulling at you again?” His tone was teasing, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Those held all the same questions and insecurity as the moment he’d told her that he’d cared for her. 

Not bothering to answer the question he’d voiced, she said quietly, “You said you wanted to be my bow and my blade. Would you be my partner in this? In travelling through the west?”

Nil’s shoulders relaxed, the tension seeping out of him as he strode close to pull her into a sweet kiss. When he broke it, he rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll be at your side wherever you go, Aloy.” 

Rising, she kissed him again, joy lighting up that dark, lonely place in her heart. 

When he tried to deepen the kiss, she pulled back with a laugh. “If you want to have sex with me  _ without  _ feeling like your blood is on fire, we need to get to work, Nil.”

“Ah, but my blood is always on fire around you, little huntress,” he said mournfully. 

With an amused snort, Aloy knelt down to examine one of the piles of tech, energized and excited for the prospect of a new challenge to be faced with a familiar pair of hands alongside her own. There were secrets to uncover but this time she wouldn’t be alone for the journey. 

* * *

**A little epilogue because I have literally zero self-restraint:**

As she made her way through the data hidden in little files throughout the big open room, Aloy found that everything took a little longer with Nil there. Not that he wasn’t useful; she was actually a little surprised by how fast he picked up on how to find useful bits of machinery. No, the issue was that she couldn’t help how often her gaze would stray from whatever she was working on to find him. 

They had barricaded the door, setting their packs down and eating some of their rations as they worked to figure out the mysterious machine. Safe enough without any machines nearby and bolstered by Aloy’s occasional checks for nearby humans, they had relaxed a bit more than they would have somewhere else. Which meant that Nil had stripped off much of his armor as well as his vest, leaving miles of bare skin for her eyes to get caught on whenever he caught her eye.

Whatever pheromones the plant had exuded earlier weren’t affecting her to the degree they were earlier - no fire in her blood or overwhelming need - but Aloy found herself wondering if the effects might… linger in the aftermath of having that in her system. Because despite the lingering soreness in her core, she found herself pressing her legs together more frequently the longer her gaze lingered on her new partner. 

To distract herself from the embarrassing amount of lust she still possessed, Aloy began to talk. 

“I was six years old when I first fell into one of these places.”

Nil cocked an eyebrow at her, shifting where he was crouched over some old gears. “Fell?”

“Literally,” Aloy said wryly. Before she knew it, she was telling him her whole story; that first delve and the way Rost had reacted, all the training she did as she grew up, and then how everything had fallen apart. Talking about the Proving, even a year later, was hard enough that it took a few proddings but she eventually got it all out. 

“So this Olin’s sight became HADES’ through his Focus?” he mused after she was finished, gesturing at her own ear. 

She shot him a grateful look for not questioning her about Rost. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share, just that this had already been an overwhelming day and she was too tired to hold back the sadness that accompanied thinking of him too much. 

“His was connected to the ones the Eclipse wore and they were connected to HADES, so what he saw, they saw too.” He watched her with curious eyes, taking in every word she’d said as if it were the most fascinating story. And for the first time in so long, maybe ever, she wanted to share it. Lifting her hand to her ear, she hesitated for a second. “Would you- would you like to see what I do?”

Nil’s face softened slightly, a little smile forming at the shy tone she hadn’t meant to use. “You would give me one and connect us?”

Surprised, Aloy said, “Oh. No, I meant to ask if you wanted to…” Unable to formulate her thoughts, she just took the Focus off, holding it out to him. It didn’t escape her that the vulnerability she felt right now brought to mind the imagery of holding her heart out to him. 

Gently, Nil reached out to take it, his fingers brushing against hers in a very deliberate caress. Rocking back on her heels, cheeks only a little hot, Aloy watched as he lifted to place it against his ear in the spot she always wore hers. When he looked at her in question, she shifted closer to press her fingers to the metal. 

Though she could only see the little light on the side start to glow, she knew what he would see. A net of light, catching every piece of tech around them and reflecting their meaning back to him. He blinked several times, trying to focus on everything at once and Aloy laughed. 

Nil pouted at her distractedly. “How do you concentrate with all of these distractions? I can barely see  _ you  _ through this.” 

“It’s going to take you a while to sort through. I’ve been doing it since I was six, remember?” Aloy didn’t fight the smile that stayed plastered to her face. Something about seeing Nil with her Focus made her feel lighter, as if the weight of the small chip wasn’t hers alone anymore. Thinking back on his words and then to All-Mother Mountain, she said, “If you want one, I could get one for you.” 

His fingers tapped the metal and then those piercing eyes centered on Aloy, sending a jolt through her. Even after the hours they’d spent wrapped around each other, that gaze still managed to both pin her and make her squirm. 

“It would connect me to you?” he asked softly, the words simultaneously intimate and somehow sexual in that particular cadence of his. When she hastily nodded, he grinned. “I would be honored, Aloy.” 

“I’d have to configure them,” she said in a rush as she took back the Focus he held out. “I haven’t created my own network before but if Sylens can do it, then I can.”

“Sylens?”

And so it went. She told him the rest; how she was fresh from the Proving when she’d met him right outside the Embrace, travelling the Sundom, the secrets she’d learned about the Old Ones and about herself. Aloy hadn’t meant to share everything, but it was as if a dam had broken, spilling out everything she had clung to for so long. 

Nil listened to all of it without qualm. For all that he liked to talk, she realized how good of a listener he could be. He prodded when she needed it, asked questions about how some of the tech worked, and when she got to the moment she had found out about Gaia and her origin in Eleuthia-9, he stood. Aloy was braced against one of the tables, eyes unseeing as she remembered the hologram of Gaia’s last moments. When his arms slipped around her waist, pulling her close so that all his warmth was pressed against her back, she sighed softly and leaned back into him. 

This was the comfort she had been missing. The company she had yearned for when she was learning all these things alone - or at least as alone as Sylens had made her feel. 

She finished her story like that, cradled in his arms as she spoke of the rush to Meridian and defeating HADES. 

“You know, I was there for part of this,” he drawled, nuzzling against her neck.

Aloy huffed. “But you refused to come up to the Spire with me.” 

“You were capable of defeating whatever foe awaited you,” he said softly. “There were others down below without the skill to defend themselves.” 

Her soul ached at the answer. Tilting her chin, Aloy kissed him lightly. “I don’t think I ever thanked you, for coming to Meridian.”

He kissed her again, letting out a little hum against her lips as she shifted to face him. “I would go anywhere for you, Aloy, and I’ll tell you as many times as you need to hear it.” 

The words found shelter in her heart and she kissed him another time, a little harder, with a little bit of the heated tension she’d been trying to ward off. He gave as good as she did. She felt cold metal touch her lower back as Nil pressed her against the table behind her, sighing against his lips as his warm hands settled on the bare skin of her waist. 

“Though if you really want to thank me,” he murmured, “I can think of a few ways you could do that.” 

The intent behind his words was obvious and Aloy bit back a moan at the way her core went molten at the silky tone. As his kisses dipped down, over her neck and shoulder, her eyes fluttered closed and she savored the feeling of his skin on hers, of the strange mix of utter contentment and seething fire his touch brought out in her. 

Her hands stroked down his bare stomach, tracing the contours of muscle and bone until she tugged at the band of his pants. Nil moaned against her skin, the brush of air across her collarbones making her shiver as she reached in to grasp his cock, too impatient to fully strip him. Big hands gripped her waist hard as she pumped his length a couple times, touching him like she hadn’t gotten the chance to before. 

Hot and heavy beneath her fingers, Aloy felt him get even harder and her mouth watered at the absolute power she held over him. Nil had stopped kissing her, too busy concentrating on his breathing as it hitched and sped to match her movements. She’d wanted to do this earlier; take him hand and mouth and watch his reactions to her touch. The fever had burned too hard for both of them though, urging them to join before she could sate her curiosity.

Now, however… Aloy used the distracted advantage her hand on his cock gave her and spun them around. This time she was the one pressing Nil against the counter and she wasted no time sinking to her knees before him. Grey eyes widened slightly as he watched her, reaching back to steady himself with hands gripping the cold metal ledge. It wasn’t until she started unlacing the hastily knotted ties at eye level that he spoke. 

“Aloy, you don’t have to-”

She snorted, glancing up at him with a more teasing look than she even knew herself capable of. “You did it for me earlier, didn’t you?”

Pink suffused his cheeks, though she knew he held no true embarrassment for his actions - he never did. “Well it was the least I could do…” He trailed off as she finally undid the last of the fabric ties, tugging his pants and smallclothes down past his hips. 

Swollen and weeping, his cock was as hard as it had been earlier, when he’d filled her for the first time. Aloy bit back a groan, the spike of heat in her core an answer to the memory of having his thick length inside her. Unconsciously, her hips rocked forward as she reached out to wrap her fingers around the base of his cock, searching for a friction she was denying herself. For now. A choked cry left her lover’s lips when her thumb brushed softly over the sensitive skin of his shaft and she tore her eyes off of it to look up at him. 

Nil had flung his head back, long hair trailing behind him as he gasped at the ceiling. The strained line of his throat and spine drew him taut under her hands and Aloy felt a rush of pleasure at the sight of him so undone by such a simple touch. Keeping her eyes trained on him, she leaned forward to let her tongue run over the same spot her thumb had just traced. The groan that left her matched his, the taste of him - hot and silky smooth and with a hint of  _ him  _ through the soap they’d used earlier - stripping her of any pretense. 

Unable to keep teasing him, Aloy licked him again, the full length of him under her tongue as she learnt the way he tensed and moaned. By the time her lips closed around the tip of his cock, Nil was close to shaking, knuckles white where he gripped the table hard enough that it must have been hurting him. Aloy hummed a little, letting the vibrations of her lips settle over his sensitive skin and she reached out to pry one of his hands away. Remember how good it had felt for her, how eagerly he’d responded, she brought his hand to her hair, twining his fingers through the strands until he was gripping with a strength that made her moan. 

Satisfied by the dark way he looked at her as his chin dipped so he could take in the sight of Aloy on her knees before him, she let her tongue dart out to catch the bead of liquid seeping from his little slit. She did it again, the salty taste nothing compared to the way he looked then, the way his hand tightened, the way his hips jerked under the hand she held pressed to his stomach. All she wanted was more of him.

Despite the little comments and stories she’d heard, Aloy knew nothing of how to do this. The only thing leading her was instinct and the reactions she drew from him. She took him in slowly, letting his thick cock fill her mouth as her hand pumped him in steady, sure strokes. The hand tangled in her hair didn’t push or pull, merely tightening when she found a spot he liked and sending streaks of heat down to her pussy whenever it did. When she felt the tip hit the back of her throat, Aloy’s eyes fluttered closed.

Nil let out a strangled cry. “Aloy, sweetheart, please-”

She hummed around him and, unable to stop himself, Nil’s hips bucked against her. The feeling of his hot length choking her for a fraction of a second was so much more than she was ready for but when he retreated, leaving her gasping for breath and staring up at him with wild eyes, disappointment thrummed through her. 

“Fuck, Aloy, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” he said frantically, hands falling to frame her face as she looked up at him. 

Shaking her head, she whispered, “Not your fault.” Hers, for making him lose that tight grasp on his control that he was always so cautious about. Fault that she was entirely happy to take. 

Before he could make her wait again, Aloy leaned in to take him back into her mouth. More familiar this time, she took him in so much faster. His cock was hot on her tongue and she pulled back just to sink back down on him again. Every taste made her want more, the power she had over him only serving to make the lust surge through her own veins even more. The rigid lock he had on his hips soothed a little as her fingers played over his skin in soft motions, until he was gently rocking into her movements. 

The next time she pulled back, Aloy started lavishing open-mouthed kisses down the length of his cock. “Come on, Nil, let go,” she coaxed, wanting him to give in the way he normally urged her to. 

He let out a breathy laugh. “And leave you bereft? I don’t think so huntress.”

“With the way that  _ plant  _ has been affecting you, you’ll be, hmm, up before too long again,” she said unsteadily as her hand on his hip slipped to stroke him as she spoke. “Besides, ah, I can take care of myself.” 

He looked down at her, confused until Aloy arched her spine, leaning back far enough that he could see where her other hand disappeared into her own waistband. Her fingers weren’t as big or as skilled as his, but she worked herself higher with every deft touch. The wet heat between her legs had been there since she first started sneaking looks at him across the room but now she was practically drenched. 

Nil muttered a curse, but the fingers on her cheek were gentle as he tilted her to look back at him. “I’m going to devour you later, huntress,” he growled. 

Aloy grinned. “Me first.” 

When she closed her lips around him again, she timed her strokes to the way her fingers rubbed at her clit. Legs spread wide as her hips mimicked his, as she drew them both closer and higher, faster and faster. As she felt her peak draw so painfully close, Aloy sealed her lips around him and sucked, tongue working the tip of his cock as she messily tried to make him feel what she had when their positions had been reversed. 

The shout he let out would have made her crow in victory, but her eyes widened as his cock pulsed under her lips before he began to spend himself inside her. A moan left her, part surprise and part the result of her own climax blinding her with waves of aching pleasure. Swallowing as much as she could, Aloy finally pulled off as her lungs ached for air. 

Gasping in breaths, Aloy pulled her fingers from her leggings as Nil collapsed to his knees in front of her. Soft, warm hands cupped her cheeks as his lips planted kisses all over her face. A small smile curved her own lips and she reached up to cover one of his hands with her own so she could press a kiss to his palm. 

“You’re alright, huntress? I didn’t hurt you?” he asked quietly, the almost desperate concern in his voice only endearing him even further to her. 

Her own voice a little rough from the way she’d pleasured him, Aloy said soothingly, “I’m fine, Nil. And any pain was entirely worth it.” 

He groaned, an exasperated sound that only drew a laugh out of her. Normally,  _ he  _ was the exasperating one; Aloy quite liked being on the other side. 

Leaning his forehead against hers, he sighed. “I suppose that’s what happens when I woo a fierce warrior maiden. Too stubborn to see when she’s in over her head.” A little chuckle escaped him. “Well, maiden no longer.”

The smug tone made Aloy shove him, just a little, not hard enough to make him stop touching her. When he swayed back, his arms wrapped around her waist to haul her against him and she melted into his embrace. Words failed her as her sated, pliant body melded with his but she couldn’t find it in her to mind.

Eventually, she told him the rest of her story. But not until after Nil kept his earlier promise to pay her the attention she deserved, leaving them to spend a bit more time twined together on the floor in that safe little haven. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to check out more of my stuff for smutty and fluffy niloy!


End file.
